Hybrid vehicles may not be healthy for drivers

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Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, a group of independent scientific experts based near Munich.

Much of the discussion over high EMF levels has sprung from hybrid drivers making their own readings. Field-strength detectors are widely available; a common model, the TriField meter, costs about $145 online. But experts and automakers contend that it is not simple for a hybrid owner to make reliable, meaningful EMF measurements. The concern over high EMF levels in hybrids has come not just from worrisome instrument readings, but also from drivers.

Neysa Linzer, 58, of Bulls Head in Staten Island, bought a new Honda Civic Hybrid in 2007 for the 200 miles a week she drove to visit grocery stores in her merchandising job. She said that the car reduced her gasoline use, but there were problems—her blood pressure rose and she fell asleep at the wheel three times, narrowly averting accidents. “I never had a sleepiness problem before,” Linzer said, adding that it was her own conclusion, not a doctor’s, that the car was causing the symptoms.

Linzer asked Honda to provide her with shielding material for protection from the low-frequency fields, but the company declined her request last August, saying that its hybrid cars are “thoroughly evaluated” for EMF’s before going into production.